It’s Time to Inventory Your Seed Packets

January is a good time to take stock of any seeds you’ve saved. Here are tips for sorting through old seed packets and organizing them ahead of seed-starting season, so you know what you need (and don’t need!) to purchase:

Viable seeds that you’re not interested in using can be donated to school gardens or shared or swapped with friends.

Seeds can be organized in several ways: by plant type (vegetable vs. flower), sowing time, or alphabetically. Think about what method makes most sense to you and your seed-starting processes. Once you’ve arranged the packets into the right categories, you might want to put them in order by expiration date, sowing time or alphabetically.

Once sorted and organized, seed packets can be inserted into a photo album with pocketed sleeves. Binder dividers can be used to separate categories of seed. Some photo albums include space for notes next to the photo pockets on each page, which you can use to pencil details such as date to sow, germination rate, etc.

An alternative to a photo album is a photo storage box or recipe box, both of which usually contain cards you can use to separate categories and further organize your collection. Using such a box also allows you to include seeds that are saved in small jars or canisters.